Liner rest



March l0, 1936. y W, HQRN 2,033,521

LINER REST Filed Dec. 29, 1934 Patented Mar. 10, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE LINER REST William Horn, Marietta, Ohio Application December 29, 1934, Serial No. 759,778

7 Claims. (Cl. 166-4) This invention relates to a liner rest intended to rest upon the bottom of an oil or gas well and support the liner in spaced relation to the bottom of the shot hole.

5, At the present time it is customary to employ a liner in a well to prevent walls of the open hole below the casing from caving in, the lower end of the liner resting upon the bottom of the shot hole and the portion of the liner in the shot hole 1Q' being perforated so that oil or gas may enter the liner, but this has been found unsatisfactory as the periorations become clogged and it is diicult to remove the liner when it is necessary to clean the shot hole.

Therefore, one object of the invention is to provide a liner rest which is connected to the lower end of a liner and may be very easily set in place or removed with the liner and is provided with improved supports which rest upon the bottom of the shot hole and serve to retain the liner in an upright position in the well, while at the same time permitting the shot hole to be cleaned of sand and parain through the liner without withdrawing the liner and the rest from the well.

Another object of the invention is to provide the liner rest with resilient supports having means associated therewith for retaining the supports in a retracted position, the said means being moved out of securing relation to the supports by contact Vwith the bottom of the well so that when the liner and the rest are lowered into the well the supports may be released and of their own resiliency spring outwardly into an extended position in which they diverge downwardly and will firmly support and brace the liner without interfering with flow of oil out of a'well.

Another object of the invention is to so form the supports that, after the liner has been set in place within a well, the liner and the liner rest may be very easily withdrawn when it is necessary to reshoot the well.

Another object of the invention is to provide a liner rest and a retainer both of which are of simple construction but so formed that there will be no danger of the retainer slipping out of engagement with the supports during lowering of the liner.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, wherein,

Figure 1 is a sectional view through the lower portion of a well showing the improved liner rest in place, the liner rest and liner, and the lower section of the well casing being shown in vertical section and the retainer in elevation.

Figure 2 is a sectional View showing the retainer engaged with the supports to hold them in a retracted position during lowering of the liner into a well.

Figure 3 is a sectional view, taken on the line 3-3 of Figure 2. 5 Referring to Figure 1 it will be seen that this improved liner rest I is to be connected to the lower end of the liner 2 and set in place in the lower portion of a well 3 with its lower portion extending into the shot hole 4 at the bottom of 10 the well. While the tubular body of the improved liner rest is of sufficient length to extend into the shot hole, it terminates a comparatively short distance below the cap rock 5 at the top of the shot hole andat its lower end carries depending sup- 15 ports or legs 6 which are formed of resilient metal such as spring steel and normally diverge downwardly. These legs or supports should be held in a retracted position while the liner is being lowered into the well so that they will not catch 20 against joints of the casing 3 or walls of the open hole between the lower end of the casing and the shot hole. Therefore, the legs are provided near their lower ends with inwardly disposed prongs or hooks 'l secured to the legs at their lower ends 25 and which extend perpendicular to the legs a short distance and are bent to extend upwardly parallel to the legs for the remainder of their length and are adapted to engage within an inverted cup-shaped hood 8 mounted upon the stem 30 9 of a retainer. This retainer has a disc-shaped base l0 at the lower end of its stem, and, referring to Figure 2, it will be seen that when the prongs are disposed within the hood or head of the retainer, the shape and weight of the retainer will 35 cause it to be held in a vertical position with its stem projecting downwardly beyond the lower ends of the supports 6. The resiliency of the supports will cause the prongs to be urged outwardly and have binding engagement with the walls of 40 the hood 8, and there will be no danger of the prongs slipping out of engagement with the retainer as the liner and the liner rest are lowered through the well casing and open hole into the lower portion of the well. 45

When theY retainer and the supports 6 enter the shot hole, the base l0 of the retainer stem will be the first to make contact with the bottom of the shot hole and as the base is of suicient diameter to prevent the stem from embedding itself 50 in the bottom of the sho-t hole, the liner rest will then move downwardly relative to the retainer. During this movement the prongs move downwardly out of the hood and the supports will then spring apart to the extended position shown in 55 Figure l, and as the supports diverge downwardly, the liner rest and liner will be rrnly supported in an upright position in the well when the lower ends of the supports make contact with the bottom of the shot hole. The retainer may be left in the well where it will repose upon the bottom of the shot hole and as there is considerable space between the diverging supports, oil may flow freely between the supports and up through the liner into the well casing. The fact that the liner rest has spaced supports also permits the shot hole to be cleaned of sand and parailin by lowering a bailer or other cleaning tools through the liner and liner rest without withdrawing the liner and its rest from the well. When it is necessary to withdraw the liner in order to reshoot the well this may be very easily done as upward movement of the liner rest through the opening formed in the cap rock 5 and lower portion of the well into the casing 3 will cause the supports 6 to be forced toward each other to the retracted position and as the prongs l project from the inner faces of the supports they can not catch against the casing or walls of the well and prevent Withdrawal of the liner. The retainer can then be drilled out and after the well has been reshot, the liner and. its rest with another retainer applied thereto lowered into place.

In case the liner is used in a well which is not provided with a shot hole at its bottom, the retainer may be omitted when lowering the liner and a metal ring employed to secure the supports in a retracted position. In such cases the ring will remain in place about the lower portions of the supports and prevent undesired spreading of the supports when the liner is in place. It should be noted, however, that when the supports are in their retracted position there will still be space between them and, therefore, the oil may easily flow between the supports.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

l. A device for supporting a well liner in its operative position in a well, said device comprising a tubular body, and resilient supports extending from the lower end of the body to rest upon the bottom of the well.

2. A device for supporting a well liner in its operative position in a well, said device comprising a tubular body having its upper end adapted for connection with the lower end of a liner, resilient supports extending downwardly from the lower end of the body in diverging relation to each other for resting upon the bottom of a well, and means to retain the supports in a retracted position during lowering of the liner support through a well casing and into the bottom of a well.

3. A device for supporting a well liner in its operative position in a well, said device comprising a tubular body, resilient supports extending downwardly from the lower end of said body to rest upon the bottom of a well and diverging downwardly, and means for retaining temporarily the supports in a retracted position detachably engaged therewith and adapted to be moved out of engagement with the supports by contact with the bottom of a well.

4. A device for supporting a well liner in its operative position in a well, said device comprising a tubular body, resilient supports extending downwardly from the lower end of said body to rest upon the bottom of a well and diverging downwardly, and a retainer for temporarily holding the supports retracted during lowering of the device having means for detachably engaging portions of the supports, the retainer when engaged with the supports extending downwardly below the supports whereby when the liner supporting device is lowered into a well the lower end of the retainer may contact with the bottom of a Well and the supports have continued downward movement out of engagement with the retainer and expand into position to rest upon the bottom of the well and support the liner supporting device in an upright position.

5. A device for supporting a well liner in its operative position in a well, said device comprising a tubular body, resilient supports extending downwardly from the lower end of the body to rest upon the bottom of a Well and diverging downwardly, prongs carried by said supports and projecting from inner faces of the supports with their free ends directed upwardly, and a retainer for temporarily holding the supports retracted having a head to engage about said prongs, and a stem extending downwardly from said head and being of a length to project downwardly beyond lower ends of the supports for engagement with the bottom of a well whereby the liner supporting device may have continued downward movement relative to the retainer when the 4stem contacts with the bottom of a well, and release the prongs from the head and permit spreading of the supports.

6. A device for supporting a well liner in its operative position in a well, said device comprising a tubular body, resilient supports extending downwardly from said body to rest upon the bottom of a well and diverging toward said lower ends, prongs carried by said supports adjacent their lower ends and projecting from inner faces of the supports in an upward direction, and a retainer for temporarily holding the supports retracted consisting of a stem, a hood at the upper end of said stem having its walls extending downwardly in spaced relation to the same for engagement about upper end portions of the prongs, said stem being of a length to project downwardly below lower ends of the supports when the hood is engaged about the prongs, and a base at the lower end of said stem.

7. A device for supporting a well liner in its operative position in a Well, said device comprising a tubular body, and supports extending downwardly from the lower end of said body in spaced relation to each other for resting upon the bottom of the well.

WILLIAM HORN. 

